Johnson to call for London to keep stamp duty as answer to housing crisis

The Mayor will demand radical redirection of funds in speech tonight

February 6, 2013

Boris Johnson will tonight call for City Hall to receive all receipts from stamp duty raised in the capital rather than it going to the Treasury. He will argue that the £1.3 billion annual windfall could be used to fund the one million homes London will need by 2030. Speaking to the Chartered Institute of Housing presidential dinner, the Mayor will insist that this money will allow City Hall to borrow on capital markets and therefore fund the enormous house building programme London needs.

This will inevitably go down badly with the Treasury where the money is very helpful for their deficit reduction agenda. Mr Johnson is expected to say: ‘Above all, London needs a stable funding stream which will support and accelerate its housing and infrastructure delivery.’ This will be welcomed by the incoming CIH president Paul Tennant who has previously supported such policies, as well as raising borrowing caps which the Mayor will also call for.